Wednesday, July 30, 2014

In a time not too long ago, there was this lame video game-o-holic named
Melissa. She was a pretty geeky girl, and most of her free time was
spent sitting on the couch and tapping away at video game controllers.
She came upon one hand-held console that she fell in love with: The
Nintendo DS. She liked the stupid games; she liked the ability to bring
the stupid games along with her wherever she went. Heck, she even snuck
this ridiculous device to work to get in some game time.
However, one day, she wanted more...of course she did. She knew of
Nintendo DS' capability to play online games, and she learned that
Nintendo had released a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, specially designed
to get her online in minutes.
She knew nothing about USB hubs and Wi-Fi connections. Although she
was a gaming geek, she was far from a computer geek, and the word Wifi
along gave her chills.
Melissa bought the odd shaped stick anyway. It came to $29.99, and she
assumed with the lower price for a computer gadget that this would not
be the only thing she needed to buy to get online. She shrugged and
tried it anyway, she was used to trial and error, so if it didn't work
she knew she could always come online to try and find solutions to
getting her DS online.
When she got home she ripped open the package like a caveman. She
fumbled with the stupid stick, and didn't bother reading the directions.
Once the computer was on she stuck the stick into the hole, and watched
as a screen popped up prompting her installation. It took a grand total
of 2 minutes. She was impressed. But now what?
Next she went and turned on her DS. Once the DS was turned on she
noticed that another screen had popped back up on her computer screen.
It was the program asking to allow connection to the DS! Cool, she
thought. It must have worked.
Before she knew it she was versing other DS Puzzle League players around the world.
After about an hour of playing though her game got interrupted. Her
computers monitor went into screen saver mode, and for some reason this
occurring ruined her connection. It only took a few minutes though to
get back on.
With time she learned to love and hate the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB
Connector. Even though she was able to turn off the screen saver, there
was no way to turn off the computers sleeper mode...at least she didn't
know how to anyway. Basically this meant that every time the computer
went into sleeper mode her Wifi connection would be interrupted, and she
would be booted.
In a land and time where the term 'booted' is unacceptable, she
learned to hate the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, more than she loved
it.
Within a few months, she finally went out and bought herself a router.
Her connection problems are now history, like the crappy Nintendo Wi-Fi
USB Connector.
The end.Pros:
The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is cheap, and does allow for a truly fast connection.
It's so easy to use, kids can set it up themselves.
It glows blue when plugged in.
Cons:
The connection gets interrupted a lot.
If you remove the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector ,you have to set up connection to your DS again.
The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector claims that you can move away from it
up to 30 feet, however, my observation shows that you can only move
away about 10 feet before you lose a connection.
The cons sadly outweigh the pros.
Setting it up:
Buy Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector; open Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector,
plug into an available USB port, turn on PC. Pc will recognize Nintendo
Wi-Fi USB Connector and a screen will pop up. Next turn on the DS. After
the DS is on, the screen on the PC monitor will pop up asking for
access. Click yes! It truly is that simple. There is no hair pulling and
cussing involved. I was amazed myself at how easy it was to get a
connection.
Overall:
If you only plan on playing online for an hour at a time it's a
perfect addition for those who do not have routers. However, you have to
remain close to the stick at all times, and sometimes just moving
around a little will cause disconnection.
Where to buy the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector:
Walmart, Gamestop, KMart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, etc.
Price:
I bought mine about a year ago, and it was $29.99 then. It remains at $29.99, but goes on sale at times for $19.99.